Goldeneye

Review by : The Ragin Cajun

Format : N64

Type : Action

Players : 1 - 4

As a general rule film to game translations don’t work. Just think of the video game versions on Robocop, Stargate, Independence Day, Judge dredd etc, etc. however there are a few rare exceptions to this rule and the most famous of these is, of course, Goldeneye.

Coming from veteran codes Rare, this game is still one of the main selling points of the Nintendo 64, even though it’s over 2 years old. Taking the role of super suave super spy James bond, you make your way through all the major location form the Goldeneye film in order to stop fellow spy gone bad, Alex trivellian.

One of the games merits is how true it stays to the source material, the game take the same route as the film and many classic scenes are recreated (my favourite bit being the part where you drive the tank through Moscow). Rare have made each of the in game locations look like their counter parts from the films with accurate textures and the in game characters looking like the onscreen characters. The levels them selves get more and more impressive as you progress with the final stages being wondrous masterpieces of design.

Level design aside the game is a joy to play. The controls are easy to pick up and use. By the end of the first stage you will be moving with ease and picking of guards with headshots that would make bond himself green with envy. The game also if very fair, easing players into the game with the first few missions so that by the time that the games final level comes around the player is a true killing machine, mowing down spetnaz soldiers with ease.

The sound also has a major part to play in this games brilliance, the level tunes are very fitting and they capture the atmosphere of the films well. The sound effects from the weapons are in a league of their own. Machine guns sound suitable impressive and the sound of a grenade going off is enough to rattle the hardest of shoot ‘em up veterans.

The graphics are as impressive as the rest of this impeccably polished game with soldiers moving realistically as they pursue you around the levels and the weapons are really well rendered. The only fault that can be levelled at his part of the game is a kind of general fuzziness that, sadly, plagues all N64 games.

The game has a deep and challenging single player mode, but ultimately it is not something that you will return to after you beat the game on its highest difficulty setting. This is where the multi-player comes in and adds the much-needed depth to the game and raises it to the status of classic. There is precious little that can top the thrill of a 4 player Goldeneye deathmatch. With a myriad of weapons and arenas, supplemented with a large set of different modes you have one of the best multi-player games ever. A testament to this is the fact that while my copy of Goldeneye is never out of my N64 I haven’t touched the one player mode in months. However the multiplayer mode is now an almost daily ritual (and lets face it a game where you can frag your siblings is always a good thing).

As I mentioned earlier Goldeneye is still a main selling point for the N64 and its not hard to see why. Great graphics sound and gameplay, coupled with an almost inexhaustible multiplayer mode make this one of the greatest games of all time, and this is one of the games that truly deserves that accolade.

Sound         : Atmospheric music and sound fx

  9/10

Gameplay    : Good controls and a good learning curve

  9/10

8/10

Difficulty     : Limited in solo apeal but fun in multiplayer

Graphics      : Starting to show their age but still impressive

  8/10

9.5/10

Overall         : Perfect in almost every way

Review by : The Ragin Cajun